Hero's Day Off
by AwakeningEden
Summary: Miles meets a charismatic teenager in his favorite video game shop.


Miles was having one of those days again. They were far and few in-between and his suit was still snug against his body with his mask folded neatly in his coat pocket. Yet, he decided despite everything, (if everything went according to plan) he would have a day off. Just a quick five hours to himself. Yes. A visit to a fast food joint, a trip to his favorite video game store, and then back to his Uncle Aaron's house to play his latest score. Although his behavior had been a little suspicious lately…

Scanning the latest titles, Miles was intrigued by the set of old Playstation games cramped in the bargain bin. He hadn't been around much when Playstation was the console of choice, but he had heard from Uncle Aaron that the RPGs from that era were incredibly well-made. Maybe his uncle could watch him play….

"Hey, aren't you a little too young to know any of those games?" a voice asked from the other side of the aisle.

Miles spun around and took in the form of a boy a couple years older than him. His skin was dark and his kind brown eyes smiled down at Miles, long black hair almost obscuring them from his view. His hands were in his pockets as he scooted over closer to Miles.

"You don't look too old yourself," Miles countered, watching the boy look through the bargain bin, apparently searching for something in particular.

"Yeah, yeah, but at least I remember the playstation era! You? You can't be older than ten," he said as his hands scrambled across the list of titles.

"I'm thirteen," Miles countered.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Still a kid."

_You wouldn't be calling me that if you knew who I was,_ was what Miles wanted to say, but he bit back his tongue, knowing it would be unwise and it was against his ethics to taunt. Let the boy next to him have some fun.

"Name's Jaime by the way," the boy stated as he picked up one game and looked it over.

"Miles," he replied back.

"Cool name," Jaime said, "Hey, I remember this game! Say, you know anything about Legend of Legaia?"

"No," Miles tried to look over his shoulder to see the game case, but Jaime was too tall for him to get a good look.

"Well then, you should totally get this one!" Jaime exclaimed, causing Miles to jump a little. "It has everything. And it reminds me a lot of me and my friends. I'm totally Vahn, you know, the hero. And he even has blue hair! Imagine that…and then there's Brenda, who's kind of a cross between Noa and Cara, which makes sense because I think both of them dig on Gala at one point in another, who is really my friend Paco. Big, tough guy type, you know? Traci, my girlfriend, she could be Mei, but she can fight too! Man, don't you love it when you can relate to games like this?"

"I guess…" Miles couldn't help but smile at Jaime's enthusiasm. "Are you going to buy it?"

Jaime contemplated it for a second before shaking his head. "No, you take it! I'm sure you'll enjoy it. And you can even make the main characters your own set of friends!"

"Oh, thank you!" Miles said.

"Well, gotta go," Jaime was about to wave goodbye but seemed to stop at the sudden disappointment that crossed Miles' eyes. "Oh, you know what? You have a phone number? We should hang out and play some video games sometimes. I have an awesome collection back home."

Miles lit up. Could his day off get any better? "Sure!"

Jaime wrote his name and number down on a piece of paper and put securely in the game's case. "There you go! Call me anytime. I may not answer, busy and all, but I promise to get back to you as soon as I can. _Comprende_?"

"_Comprendo_," Miles nodded his head.

"Ah, you know Spanish?" Jaime smiled.

"Yeah, mostly. I am half Latino."

"No kidding!"

After Miles purchased the game and thanked Jaime for the recommendation, they went there separate ways, Miles to his uncle's apartment and Jaime down an alley.

_I see your visit to New York was "fun" like you wanted,_ Khaji Da buzzed into Jaime's head. _Do you plan on meeting with the spider-boy soon?_

"Of course!" Jaime said as he activated his suit, metallic blue spreading across his arms and legs. "I'd love to team up with him someday!"

And he shot off back to his Texas and hoped that he wasn't too late for dinner.

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Bonus Scene:

"Come on, dude!" Jaime rushed up behind Miles, ready to take the controller from him, "You gotta be faster than that!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!" Miles said through gritted teeth, doing his best to shift paradigms, having his character Sazh start to buffer the other two, Snow and Vanille, right away.

"Oh man, you're almost dead, you're almost dead…" Jaime practically chanted.


End file.
